System will be derailed if judiciary not respected: SC

[Maroof Hussain Chishty]

System will be derailed if judiciary not respected: SC

Sohail Khan
Wednesday, January 18, 2012


ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court stated on Tuesday the democratic system would be derailed if the judiciary were not respected. The court said this as former law minister Dr Babar Awan finally faced the music for his contempt towards the Supreme Court, which temporarily suspended his law practising licence for contempt against the judiciary.

Flanked by Pakistan People’s Party stalwarts at a press conference, Babar had criticised the court’s verdict in the memo case, earning himself a contempt notice. Finally, he has had to reap the harvest of his maligning the court with the suspension of his practising licence, and a bar on his appearance as counsel before the apex court, at least for the time being.

Being a darling of President Asif Ali Zardari, Babar who was recently made vice president of the PPP, is being tipped as the next Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, with reports circulating that Maula Bux Chandio has resigned as Minister for Law.

An eleven-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the presidential reference for revisiting the murder case of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “We temporarily suspend his [Babar Awan] licence to appear before this court and no sooner has he engaged a counsel and filed the reply, he would make a request to the registrar for the purpose of taking up this matter,” the court said in its order.

The court observed that a good relationship between the bench and the bar depended on mutual respect. It ruled that the apex court deserved to be respected by all concerned, particularly advocates and members of the legal fraternity to whom licences were issued for appearing before the court. “If an institution like the Supreme Court is not respected and an attempt is made to lower its prestige in the eyes of the general public, then it would be very difficult to administer justice because this is the court whose working/decisions send a message down to the court of the magistrate and the civil judge that they should administer justice without fear or favour, and if this court is maligned by anyone, it would not be possible to maintain its dignity and status,” the court ruled in its order.

Referring to the ZAB reference, the court directed Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to inform the president of Pakistan that in view of the order of January 5, 2012 and January 17, 2012, the licence of Babar Awan, had been temporarily suspended; therefore, it would be appropriate if another counsel were appointed to address arguments in the reference, which indeed was one of the most important cases in the history of the Court.

The Supreme Court on January 05 had issued contempt of court notice to Awan. On Tuesday, the court adjourned the hearing to a date in office and ruled that it would be taken up as soon as the president of Pakistan nominated another counsel.

Earlier, the court also rejected the plea of the President Supreme Court Bar Association Yasim Azad for more time in the case in hand. The Chief Justice said the court’s respect would not be compromised at any cost. While addressing Awan, the CJ said, “The bench was left with no other option but to take steps against you,” adding that it should not be presumed that the court was helpless.

Babar Awan sought more time saying that he would hire the services of another lawyer to plead the case, adding that being a member of the larger political party he believed in giving due respect to the court.

The CJ observed that the system could be derailed if the judiciary was not given due respect, adding that throughout the world, respect and dignity of the judiciary was not compromised. He asked Awan whether he was also served a contempt of court notice from the Lahore High Court, at which Awan apprised the bench that upon a contempt of court notice from the LHC he had appeared before the bench of Justice Ihsan-ul-Haq.

He added that he had also appeared before a bench of former Justice Nawaz Abbasi. On this occasion, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar pointed out that he also took a contempt of court notice against Awan, which was discharged later on.